Theater News

Las Vegas Spotlight: March 2008

Grin and Cher It

Apparently Caesar’s Palace, formerly home to pop goddess Celine Dion and now showplace for songstress/actress/comedienne Bette Midler’s The Showgirl Must Go On, is positioning itself to become the diva capitol of the world, for it has recently announced that Cher will be taking up residence there later this Spring. Cher at the Colosseum will begin on May 6, with the famed singer doing a total of 200 performances over the next three years. The show will be a grand spectacle, featuring over a dozen dancers and aerialists, elaborate sets and choreography, and costumes designed by the legendary Bob Mackie.

Congratulations to the Las Vegas Little Theatre, which is picking up the Governor’s Arts Award for Leadership in the Arts this month. It’s no wonder that the company is receiving Nevada’s highest arts honor, considering it has managed to present great theater for 30 years now. One of the pleasures of examining LVLT’s schedule every season is seeing the diversity of work it offers up. While classics and broad-appeal plays and musicals are often found on the mainstage, the Fischer Black Box offers edgier fare. Look no further than its latest production, Jeff Goode’s Poona the Fuck Dog, and other Children’s Stories (March 21-30), a deliriously silly, smart, and satirical play that is most decidedly not for children.

The final installment of Nevada Conservatory Theatre’s “Second Season” is Laura V. Turner’s Take Me to Monaco (UNLV Black Box Theatre, March 6-9). The play is about a woman who, unhappy with her own life, takes it out on her daughter by sabotaging her wedding, taking hostages, and demanding a trip to Monaco.

The Department of Fine Arts at the College of Southern Nevada is presenting The Hairy Ape (February 29-March 9) in the BackStage Theatre. This expressionist play by Eugene O’Neill was first produced in 1922 by the Provincetown Players, later transferred to Broadway, and has subsequently enjoyed lauded revivals and a film version. The tragic story concerns a working class man named Yank who struggles to find a place where he belongs.

It’s not Spring just yet, but it might as well be, thanks to Signature Productions, which is presenting the Rodgers & Hammerstein revue A Grand Night For Singing (March 24-April 26). The Tony-nominated musical is a cornucopia of tuneful treasures from R&H’s most beloved shows, including Oklahoma!, The King and I, South Pacific, and Carousel. Wonderful numbers from lesser-known musicals like Allegro, Me and Juliet, and Pipe Dream are also on the bill. Best of all, A Grand Night For Singing presents these classic songs in new arrangements that will allow you to appreciate them in a whole new way.